This epic account, translated by Sara Khalili), of the life of Massoumeh, an Iranian woman, spans 50 years of repression, deprivation, abuse and misery, and opens a window on half a century of turbulent history. Banned twice in Iran, it’s now one of the all-time bestselling books there: it’s hard to imagine the impact such an uncompromising narrative must have had. Massoumeh’s family move to Tehran in the late 1960s. Her brothers are violent and overbearing, forcing her into a hasty marriage after she has “shamed” the family through an innocent crush on a boy. Her suffering ramps up and up, as her Marxist husband, whom she comes to love, is persecuted first by the Shah’s regime and then by fundamentalists whom he has helped bring to power. Through decades of overwhelming political upheaval, she works ceaselessly to keep her young family going, but periods of happiness and calm are almost always ruined by new calamities. Rarely can a novel have sustained such levels of emotion over so many gut-wrenching pages. Ultimately, it’s a memorable and nuanced dissection of a patriarchal society.
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